Your baby this week28 weeks pregnant

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Labor bag checklist

If you're planning a hospital or birth center birth, what should you bring with you? Pregnancy & Baby offers this handy labor bag checklist -- you browse what other moms have brought with them, and pick and choose what you want and need. Print it off, and you have your packing list!

What is...

Terbutaline sulfate (also known as Terbutaline or terb, or by a brand name such as Brethine, Bricanyl or Brethaire) is frequently administered to stall premature labor. It works by relaxing uterine smooth muscle, thus inhibiting uterine contractions. While it works very well, side effects are common, and include nervousness, dizziness, headache, anxiety, restlessness and insomnia. It can be administered orally or, in the case of mom on bedrest, intravenously via a pump designed for home use.

Interestingly, terbutaline has been approved by the FDA only for the treatment of asthma. Its use to treat preterm labor is well-known, widely-used and accepted, yet an officially unapproved "off-label" use of the drug. Several advocacy groups in support of women with high-risk pregnancies are calling for the FDA to approve the drug's use for early labor.

Pregnancy & Family

All love relationships involve some form of intimacy. Deep friendships thrive on it: marriages are nurtured by it. A note, a smile, a touch... each can have profound effect. For most couples, sexual intercourse is an exciting, enriching, intimate part of a relationship.

Unfortunately, during pregnancy, intercourse is not always possible. But just because pregnancy has reached a point where intercourse is either uncomfortable, against medical advice or simply rather awkward, intimacy need not stop! In fact, intimacy is needed by both partners, perhaps even more than before the pregnancy. Click here to read more!

Extra!

Cesarean more likely for boys

According to a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (March 1997), the overall Cesarean section rate was 13.2% among 1,246 women carrying boys, versus 9.6% among 1,193 women carrying girls (odds ratio 1:4, 95% confidence interval 1:1 to 1:8).

In conclusion, the study summarized, "Increased Cesarean deliveries for failure to progress among women with male fetuses is related to the larger size of males, whereas the increase for fetal distress is not, and may relate to other developmental differences between male and female fetuses."